


Can we become friends?

by RiverlyJulianet



Category: Pocket Monsters SPECIAL | Pokemon Adventures
Genre: F/M, Grantedshipping - Freeform, Two Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-11
Updated: 2016-12-05
Packaged: 2018-08-30 09:22:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8527684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiverlyJulianet/pseuds/RiverlyJulianet
Summary: Since the battle on Cerise Island, time has passed and people has changed. If they encouter each other again, whether they will be friends or still enemies?





	1. Restart

**Author's Note:**

> This is a two-shot about Granted Shipping. It doesn't contain much action or romantic details but rather focus on characters' emotions. I was practicing writing this genre, so maybe the result didn't good :) Anyway, I hope you can enjoy reading this.  
> The timeline in this story didn't exactly followed the main story. And I don't own any of the characters or Pokemons appeared in this work :)

 

- _Eight years ago, he fled from his guiltiness_ -

Lance let out a sigh as the old memories came back, clearly as it had just happened yesterday. After realizing his own mistake and knowing there wasn’t a turning-back for him, he had always been haunted by the past, haunted by the meaningful words which had awaken him, haunted by the image of a bravery girl who had defeated his plans of creating an utopia for Pokemon, up to now. 

He rose from his sitting spot and came by the window. The twinkling starry sky in Johto was as beautiful as usual with stretches of pink-shade cloud hovering here and there. The full moon shone brightly, shed its silvery light onto the ground below, somehow added to the scenery a mysterious aura. He breathed in the cool night air, enjoyed his overview of the lively city far down at the foot of the hill as he thought about the blonde girl, once again.

He hated her for destroying his ideal, it was just a natural thing although he now was a completely different person from then. He had virtually lost everything, his dreams, his lifetime objectives as well as his pride, all because of her. She had destroyed him from inside out, left him nowhere to stand but hiding in the darkness without caring what happened to him after that. She didn’t know, she didn’t have to know.

Nevertheless, he couldn’t help but feeling grateful. 

“What you have done to me, is much greater than you can imagine, Yellow.” He had whispered to himself under the cloudy sky sometime in the past.

He used nearly a year to collect himself and made up his mind, then another five years to start a new, secret life fighting against the evil in his old self and also the bad people threatened to ruin the peace whenever and wherever he could. He managed to accept the fact that human and Pokemon could be friends, and there would always be another way, a better way for him to choose.

At the moment, he was staying at a base outskirted Blackthorn City, exchanging information with those who knew about his existence and soon, he would set off on an expedition to Unova maybe. Things had been settled down in this part of the world after all the hard work of every single generation of Dex Holders. Team Rocket had died down with the boss, Giovanni, together with the Johto’s Gym Leader also known as The Masked Man, Pryce, choose to stay hidden in the darkness just like him. They had cooperated at some point to help the heroes on the light side win against world-destroying plans, but then parted when each of them had their own things to complete. 

Hoenn had just recently succeeded in preventing a giant meteor from crashing into the Earth, much a delightful relief to mankind. Team Magma and Team Aqua had also changed their face and their purposes. All were so well that he didn’t have anything left to do here, that was why he wanted to went on a far-away trip.

Suddenly, a knocking sound filled the silent air. Someone was thumping on the wooden front door, but before he could turn to answer it, the door swung open. Standing there was his younger cousin, Clair, in her casual clothes when there was no battle, which was just a simple white shirt and a pair of black leggings. Her azure hair was tied into a high ponytail, and her bangs cupped around her angled face making her even more beautiful.

She stepped inside after closing the door but didn’t approach him. Instead, she crossed her arms and leaned against the dirty white wall. “You’re gonna leave?”

Lance gave her a briefly glance before turning his attention back to the poetic view outside, didn’t surprise at her presence. “Yeah, my work here is done. It’s good to see you and your city going so well.”

“…Why are you so scared? Why don’t you go back to the place where you belong?” Clair’s cerulean eyes settled on her cousin’s figure, almost emotionless if there wasn’t a spark of frustration deep inside.

The young man sighed, his gaze fell distance as he took his time to give her an answer. “Where I belong, is here, Clair. You know me, you know what I’ve done, so you must have known why.”

Clair frowned, that wasn’t the thing she wanted to hear. “Stop blaming yourself. Indeed, you were wrong, but you’ve changed now. People need to have a different look on you, Lance. I’m sure they’ll understand and recognize you once again.”

“How can you know?”

“’Cause I’m one of them.”

Lance’s crimson eyes went wide a little but immediately back to their normal harshness and coldness. A train of thoughts went through his mind as he was trying to find a good goddamned reason for his cowardice, as Clair had just pinpointed out. And the result was nothing. 

“You’re such a coward,” Said Clair finally, breaking the heavy silence between them. “But it’s understandable, at least to me.”

“You’re not here just to tell me that, right?” He asked, attempted to change the subject, as he knew too well his dearest relative.

“Well, I’m here to give you an offer.”

“What offer?”

“Become Johto’s new Champion in the next Tournament. After that, I’ll let you do whatever you want.”

Lance chuckled, mostly to himself. “Why would I agree?”

The Blackthorn City’s Gym Leader shrugged and then left the house without any more words, or even a goodbye. Before closing the door, she glanced back at the man standing next to the window, her expression incomprehensible.

_You’re wrong! Pokemon are our friends, they’re not for killing and destroying the world! Sure, human are making mistakes, but that why we’re human right? There’s no reason for you to do all of this because, look, all you do is just hurting your own Pokemon who love you so much!_

Her words echoed in his mind, reminded his worst. Maybe he couldn’t forgive himself, and eventually concluded everyone else would the same. But then, it seemed that he was wrong, again. He liked staying here in the pitch black darkness where he didn’t have to care what other people think, but having a second thought, what would hurt him more if he showed his now self to the world? He could always go back here when no one accepted him.

Reaching for his beloved Pokemon in their balls, he whispered his question. “What do you guys think? Am I ready for a re-stage?”

All of his Dragon-type Pokemon nodded in synchronization and gave him a cheery smile. A small smile made it way onto his face as he silently thanked his best friends.

\-------------------------------------

- _Eight years long, he has redeemed his unforgivable guilt little by little_ -

The Johto Tournament had been held successfully and finally announced its new Champion who was none other than Lance – the Dragon Master. Applause exploded around the fighting arena where Lance stood firmly by the other two runner-ups. This feeling hit him strangely, as if the audience’s clapping weren’t for him but for someone else, as if he somehow had managed to undone his wrongness in the past, as if he had been set free.

At first, his appearance had done a negative effect to about one third of Johto’s civillian. No one had expected to see a former Elite Four of Kanto region emerged at their Tournament after nearly eight years went missing. Some of them who knew about his story even became desperate in requesting the organization committee to throw him out of the contest, out of Johto, which made he chuckle bitterly to himself.

But he had Clair stand up for him. Then Silver, the red-haired boy he met during those hidden years and eventually became his apprentice, also claimed to everybody that he was no longer a villain and that he was trustable. To his surprise, Silver’s friends, whose names were Gold and Crystal, chose to believe in him as pioneers without a doubt. 

After that, Lance slowly gained his new reputation as Johto’s people started to trust in their new Champion. Just like what Clair had said, they didn’t take his past too serious, or most of them to be exact, but that was enough for him. He still couldn’t forgive himself, yet he began to see his bright future waiting ahead.

“How’s it feel to be free from the obsession?” Silver asked him on the way to the North together. “Wonderful, isn’t it?”

“More like magical, but yeah.” Lance said silently and Silver gave him a knowingly smile. The younger man had experienced a similar thing, anyway, so he understood well.

The wind blew so cool on his face as Dragonite carrying him soared across the sky next to a Honchkrow which Silver was holding tightly to. Fluffy white cloud floated around them, added some colors to the clear blue sky; and the sun shone brightly above their heads. From this position in midair, he suddenly realized how beautiful this region was, with high mountain chains breaching the cloud on his left and the ultramarine ocean stretching far ahead until it blended into the cerulean sky. 

He missed his home. 

He missed the ever-green forest which had blessed him with such great power.

He missed the Pokemon used to stay by his side since he was a child, comfort him from the loss he had bore.

And, he missed the one who had defeated him, without knowing it.

The blonde girl had put all her efforts in explaining for him to understand, in preventing him from doing more wrong things. He still remembered the stubbornly determined look in those pretty amber eyes of her, which had made him flinched. Although she was just a little girl then, her naïve, innocent yet so strong mind to which he had completely lost. She left him an unforgettable will, caused him to replay the battle scene with her over and over, until he couldn’t stop thinking of her.

_Listen, I know why you have that belief, and I understand. But what you’re doing isn’t right. If you don’t change your mind, then I’ll have to stop you. I won’t let you do what you want, what will make you regret later, Lance!_

“Stupid girl,” Lance murmured to the blowing wind, gaze far ahead.

“What did you say?” Silver, being a keen person he was, easily caught the slightest sound drown in between the wind.

Snapping himself out of the thought, Lance shook his head. “Nothing important.”

“You were thinking something, I’m sure of that.” The younger man glared at him, his silver eyes waiting for him to be off guard.

He laughed. “Can’t hide anything from you. I just think about…”

“She, right?” Silver cut his sentence off, a smirk appeared on his youth face. He had known Lance for a long time, and he could see himself in that lonely man, so it wasn’t too hard to guess what he was thinking. Always obsessed by the defeating and the one had thrown him here, turned him into this. _However, in Lance’s case, the obsession might a bit different. It surely is a combination between hatred, regret and something else_ , Silver thought.

Lance surprised, eyes wide turned to his fellow, but said nothing. And their journey went by in mostly silence.

\-------------------------------------

- _Unexpectedly, they will face each other once again…_ -

An adolescent blonde breathed deeply the salty air at the harbor, where she had just left the ship brought her from Vermillion City to Olivine City. Professor Oak asked her to do a research in Johto for him, since his grandson, Green, was too busy with his work as the Viridian’s Gym Leader, Red was on Mt.Silver for his training purposes, and Blue was spending time with her family. Crystal had recently gone back to Johto to attend the Tournament there, and the only person who could help him was her.

Yellow smiled a bit, at least he had thought of her. Compared to other Dex Holders, she didn’t actually contribute any great work. 

The sky was high above, an immense shade of mixed pink and orange as the sun was setting at the western horizon. There were a flock of Wingull flying by, spreading their wings freely and soaring across the air. The sea waves was whispering in the background, blended together with all the conversation of people around her. 

The petite young woman looked around, searching for her friend who had promised to meet up with her at the Olivine’s harbor. Her sweet amber eyes caught a glimpse of a familiar figure trying to push pass the crowd, and a happy, sweet smile plastered on her face.

The friend of her had managed to make it through, now was jogging towards her. “Yellow!”

“Crystal! Great to see you again!” The blonde said as they came into a hug.

Crystal was taller and more matured-looking than her, yet younger. And she laughed ad she took her hands in hers. “It’s seemed like you haven’t changed a bit, Yellow.” 

“If you want to talk about my height, then I let you know that I’m three centimeters taller than the last time we met!” Yellow protested, but didn’t pay much bother to the teasing words. 

They both laughed, and then together left the harbor. On the way to Crystal’s place in Olivine, Yellow told about her recent life in Kanto, how she was given this work and the things happened during the trip. Crystal listened and sometimes commented about her story. Just some trivia that friends would say to each other. Then the pigtail-haired girl informed her fellow Dex Holder about the Johto’s Tournament had just been announced the new Champion.

“Is it Gold?” Yellow asked, pretty believed in the naughty adolescent. He was strong and he was also Red’s apprentice anyway, so since Silver didn’t have any interest in taking part in the competition, Gold would become such a powerful opponent to the other trainers.

That was the part where Crystal started to laugh. “No, not him. He has been upset for a week now,” she paused, then added. “ Well, I’ve tried to comfort him but can’t do much. At least he seems to be more mature after this, and that’s good.”

The shorter woman looked at her in disbelief. “Really? Gold lost? Then who’s the winner?”

Crystal suddenly stopped walking and turned to her, hesitated. “Uh… You know him.”

She raised her eyebrow in confusion, curious. “Who?”

“The Champion’s name is Lance, people call him The Dragon Master.”

“…What?”

Yellow’s eyes went wide as she tried to get the idea. As Lance’s name hit her hearing, the memories of eight years ago flooded back. The teenage boy had been trying to terminate the world for Pokemon’s sake, and she had stopped him. _Why would he be here_? She racked her brain for an acceptable answer, but couldn’t. She thought he had… gone, completely disappeared from this world after taking the direct Megavolt hit. But he was still here, still alive? 

A wave of relief mixed with discomfort ran down her spine and she twitched a little. She had suffered countless terrifying nightmares after the battle with him eight years ago, and until now, she still felt his death had been weighing her down so much. And knowing that he was survived, that she hadn’t killed anyone, Yellow was somehow thankful. However, it couldn’t be denied that the blonde was still afraid of him, obviously. She was afraid that this time, he came back to revenge her, or even worse, to start a new devastating plan. But if so, he should have done that years ago, not waiting until now. 

_Maybe, just maybe, he has changed his belief…_

Seeing the panic in her senior Dex Holder’s eyes, Crystal put a hand on her shoulder to comfort. “Yellow, listen, I know you don’t trust Lance, but…”

“I’d like to meet him, Crystal.” Yellow said, cutting the younger off.

The adolescence with two dark indigo pigtail confused at her fellow’s words, but in the end she nodded in response. “I think so too. Just remember, Yellow, he isn’t the one you fought with in the past.” 

Crystal didn’t sure what the petite women think as her eyes were hidden under her bangs, yet, she released her Alakazam on the green grass by the road side. The Alakazam took in the surrounding for a moment before turning his head to his trainer, waiting her command.

“This will be a little… uneasy. But Teleport is the fastest way, so please get on with it.” Crystal explained shortly as she took Yellow’s hand by one of hers and the other took Alakazam’s three-finger hand. “Teleport to Route 34, please.”

“Eh? Why Route 34?” 

Yellow asked but before she could get her answer, everything around her started to fade away and the whole world began to spin so fast that she had an urge to throw out the lunch she had eaten. The feeling didn’t disappear when they once again stood firmly on the ground and she had to lean on Crystal’s shoulder for support. A long while later, she could finally regain herself, but still holding her junior’s arm tightly, and slowly observe the scenery around them.

“Here is… Route 34?” 

They were standing in front of a giant mouth which led into a deep, dark forest, Ilex Forest if she remembered right. The trees were so high and thick that the more she tried to look further into the space between those, the darker and scarier the shadow got. The sky now had turned deep dark blue with thousands of stars shining dimly above; and the air had become a bit colder than before. She suppressed a shiver as wind suddenly rose, making the foliage rustle slightly and creating some flapping sound somewhere far a head.  
She looked at Crystal, expecting an explanation.

\-------------------------------------

The next morning, when the first chirping started to fill the forest, Lance woke up to find Silver had already packed up his supplies. They had finished their research on some strange natural phenomena in the Ilex Forest caused by newly discovered Pokemon lived there, so today, they would leave the forest and return to Blackthorn. It took longer than they thought, however, it was really worth for what they had discovered.

A Dragonair coiled up by Lance’s side lifted its head up to look at its trainer as he got out of his sleeping bag, round eyes were still full of wariness since they were in an untamed environment, where any dangerous, wild Pokemon could appear at any moment. Lance chose to leave Dragonair out instead of his most reliable Dragonite because he thought Dragonite’s size would make it feel uncomfortable in the small space this area could offer.

“Take.” Silver said, and without any further warning, he threw an energy bar at Lance, who caught it so easily. “Good reaction, as always.”

Lance smirked. “Of course.” 

He then started to chew on his breakfast while gathering his things. After that, they both set off on the journey out of the forest in complete silence. 

Warm sunlight peeked through the canopy, shed dim rays of morning light onto the forest floor which was covered with vines and dry leaves and varieties of fungus.The intense dampness and resinous smell still lingered in the air even when the fog was gradually dissipated as the sun moved higher and higher. And after a nearly-four-hour hike, they eventually reached the rear of the dense forest with a Dragonair took the lead and a Weavile at their side. The way wasn’t too flat, but nothing unusual happened.

Until then.

“You’re back to Blackthorn?” Silver broke the endless silence.

“Yeah, after reporting what we’ve found.” Lance said without looking back at the other young man. “What ‘bout you? Visiting your sister in Kanto?”

“No, I’ve just visited her recently…”

The tree was sparser each stepped they took and a short while later, they were bathing under a wave of lovely and comfortable daylight. The trees now conceded their territory to an open grassy field with such a clear sky above. A wonderful scent of fresh flowers carried along the wind from the east permeated into the air. This was much more delightful than staying in the humid forest.

“I just want to change the atmosphere.” Silver continued, his voice was almost inaudible.

“Well, you should do that. And my advice is: find someone else besides your sister to fill up your emptiness, Silver.” Lance said vacantly.

“Is that an advice for me or for yourself?” The red-headed sneered at his master, cold silver eyes fixed on the tall figure ahead.

But instead of giving his apprentice an answer, Lance abruptedly stopped in his track, making Silver nearly bumped against his back. The younger man puzzled over Lance’s action, however, a glimpse of two other persons standing in front of them had already given him what he needed to know.

There was a woman with antigravity pigtails in a simple T-shirt, a denim jacket and black shorts. And next to her was a petite woman whose blond hair was tied in a ponytail, wearing a baggy blouse and brown jeans. They were both staring at Lance and Silver with unreadable looks.

“Crystal? And Yellow too.” Silver said, not trying to hide his surprise. “What’re you doing here?”

“Uh… Hi.” Crystal hesitated. “You see, Silver, Yellow wished for an encounter with the Champion. So I took her here.”

“But… Why?” He turned his head to look at his companion, who had frozen in his place, eyes couldn’t tear off from the woman he had always thought about.

No one said another word as Crystal signaled to Silver to stop asking, leaving Lance and Yellow in their own space. They had to be crammed with tangled thoughts and complex feelings as they glowered at each other, jaw clenched tightly.

“Lance/Yellow…” Without intention, they both whispered at the same time.

Lance could see in those amber irises, a flicker of terror passed by for a split second, and then there was only wariness. Exactly the same reaction as eight years ago. That, he couldn’t help but felt an uneasiness fast growing along with some kind of pain aching inside his heart. Words were stuck at his throat and whenever he tried to utter something, he accidentally swallowed it down to his stomach.

 _How weird_ , he thought to himself, _in the end, I’m still just a frail coward…_

“I’m surprised.” Yellow finally said, carefully kept her voice from shaking or raising too high. “You’re alive, Lance.”

“… I am indeed, and you don’t seem to be happy with this, do you?” Lance gave her a smirk in answer, as if trying to piss her off. However, he couldn’t manage to cover the bitter tone in his voice. “But I’m surprised, too, that you still remember me.”

“Of course, how can I forget a villain who wants to put an end to the humanity.” Yellow frowned.

“Ah, that’s right. I must have a very special place in your black list, right? But don’t worry, I’m not here to restart my old plans if you want to know.”

“… You cannot believe in a word from your foe. That’s what life has taught me.” 

“Nice lesson.” Lance shrugged. “Then again, it’s up to you to make the final decision. I know what will happen if I attempt to destroy this world again, but that won’t.”

An awkward silence once again filled the air as Yellow couldn’t think of anything to say, even she was the one demanding to see him. Lance slowly inhaled as he tried to keep himself stay as cool as possible. Then, abruptedly, a moment later, he turned left and walked away without any more words, not bothered to wait for Silver to follow.

“W…Wait!” Yellow called after him, making him flinched but dared not to turn around or stop. He just couldn’t face her any longer.

And that was when the ground under their feet began to rumble and shake vigorously, and they all lose their balance before groggily fell onto the earth surface. A long loud shriek echoed across the open space in this long-lasting earthquake drawing everyone’s attention while they were holding on tight anything in their reach out of instinct.

“What the heck was that?” Crystal screamed out loud through the noise, shifting her gaze to the direction where the sound’s source seemed to be.

“I..I don’t know!” Yellow answered her.

The earthquake started to die down, much to the foursome’s relief. Lance was the first to regain his sense of balance and stand up, run back into the place he had just gotten out with the Dragonair in tow. Silver quickly followed his example along with his Weavile.

Crystal and Yellow exchanged a look before getting back on their feet and released their Meganium and Dodrio as they ran after those two.

\-------------------------------------

Was there the newfound rabbit-like Pokemon herd which had caused the thunderous earthquake, gathering in the middle of the clearing at the heart of Ilex Forest.  
Lance stood at the side of the clearing, numerous scratches on his exposed skin resulted in moving so fast through the dense forest on Dragonair’s back, watching the bigger Diggersby and the smaller Bunnelby were so furious for some reason. He narrowed his eyes, carefully not to alert those rabbits by any sudden moves. When he and Silver had conducted a research here few days ago, the rabbits wasn’t like this, in fact, they were friendly and unharmful. Now, they had just made a deathly Earthquake move and created cracks and big gaps on the ground nearby, threatened to gulp anything unable to get away in time down the blackness with several sharpened rocks hidden inside.

_What on earth has made these Pokemon become so angry?_

And he quickly got his own answer.

A pair of enormous Serperior slithered out of the bushes, showing themselves in front of the rabbit herd. Diggersby and Bunnelby immediately cautiously turned to the two serpentine creatures, ready to fight at any moment for their own safety.

“Serperior? Where do they come from?” Lance heard a whisper spoken up behind him, and he didn’t need to turn around to know that was Silver. “They supposed not to be here.”

“…Maybe they are lost Pokemon.” Lance said.

“So what do we do?” Silver asked as he eyed the group of Pokemon.

“We can leave, but then these snakes would push the Diggersby and Bunnelby here to the verge of extinction in a blink.” Lance said, clearly indicated that they should do something with the Serperior.

Silver smirked in agreement, and silently motioned for his Weavile to prepare. 

One of the serpentine Pokemon started to tremble, its red eyes aimed at the prey, and then from its pale green scales, thousands of razor-sharp leaves circled around its body for a brief second before shooting out in all direction. Meanwhile, the other silently moved around the clearing to behind the Diggersby and their children then suddenly Tackled one Bunnelby and immediately swallowed it all at once.

“Safeguard!”

A transparent shield emerged, quickly enveloped the slow-react rabbits and narrowly protected them from dangerously flying leaves. The Diggersby and Bunnelby looked around confusedly and were surprised at the appearance of two people and their Pokemon. However, they didn’t beware of them as they sensed Lance’s and Silver’s intention to help.  
Some of the mature rabbits Bounced up to the sky and then slammed back down the Serperior, making it growled in pain. But not for long. The snake buried its pointy teeth into one of the Diggersby clinging on its body while shaking violently in order to make the others fall down. 

“Weavile, Ice Wind,” Silver commanded as his Weavile jumped to the air and produced a chilled wind aimed to the off-guard Serperior resulted in the green snake coiled itself up when frost started to spread on its tough scale. It roared as it was slowly frozen by the sheer cold of the icy gust.

The other Serperior had just finished the third unfortunate Bunnelby when Lance turned to it and ordered Dragonair to hit it with Dragon Tail.

“Lance! Silver!” Out of nowhere, Yellow, riding her Dodrio, ran into the clearing right between the Serperior and Dragonair. Without time to react, she and the avian Pokemon took the Dragon Tail attack fair and square, and was knocked a long way backward until they crashed into a trunk. 

The serpentine Pokemon realized its opportunity and swiftly slithered to the paralysed petite blonde as it attempted to caught her.

“Shit!” Lance cursed. He hastily ran over to her and leaped forward just in time to take the direct Slammed from Serperior which was originally for Yellow. He fell hard on his back, nevertheless managed to give a command for the eager Dragonair to use Dragon Tail again. This time, the attack hit its target and threw the snake a good five meters away.  
The man quickly got back on his feet and picked up the young woman in half unconscious state lying on the ground next to him, carrying her in his strong arms. “You stupid woman!”


	2. Unpredictable

_-Eight years has passed since then, yet she still clearly remembers-_

Yellow didn’t tell anyone, even Blue - her best friend, about the thoughts, the uneasy feelings and the other things that kept bugging her mind ever since. She would never forget the two encounters she had with Lance obviously. Like everybody else, she had been truly scared to death at the first time she met the young Leader of Kanto’s Elite Four, and immediately got a bad impression of him, that he had been such a terrifying person with totally wrong ideal. However, at the second – and the final – battle, she somehow changed her opinion. She would never be able to erase the actual images of him that had struck her so hard.

Never in her life had she seen such freezing irises in crimson red, as if there hadn’t been any hint of emotions in that teenage boy. But the deeper she tried to look into those eyes, the more visibly clear she could see and feel. Lonely, painful, frustrated. How vulnerable despite the fact that he had always given to the world a chill, powerful and stubborn portrait of himself. 

_What exactly have he been going through? There must be a reason for him to do this._ Yellow once told herself when she faced him again on Cerise Island.

Sadly, being a determined adolescent himself, he hadn’t bothered to take in her words but stubbornly stuck to his false conception of the world being. She couldn’t find a chance to understand him before everything ended. And that didn’t help lessen the guilt she felt. For some reason, she had been regretting profoundly, and pondering again and again about Lance, about what she could have done instead of putting his life to an end.

Lance might be a bad guy, yet he, or anyone, anything else, didn’t deserve the death. 

Yellow slowly opened her eyes and immediately had to squint them shut for a moment as the artificial light welcomed her was so bright. She tried to sit up, feeling the ache spreading along her half-left body as she recalled being hit by a sudden Dragon Tail attack and let out a small groan. Soon after her eyes adjusted with the light, she saw a familiar figure leaning against the white wall across her bed with his arms folded.

The man with fiery red hair and crimson eyes stood there in his usual composure, eyeing her in silence as if waiting for her to process her surrounding. Until Yellow finally straightened herself on the single-bed and looked up at him, did Lance begin to approach her with an unreadable expression. He stopped a half meter away from her bed.

“How do you feel?” He asked as gently as she could ever expected from a man like him.

She hesitated a bit, but gave him a nod in the end. “Nothing unusual. What happened?” 

“You were hit and knocked out by accident.” Lance shrugged. “Your friends has been worrying a lot.”

“Is that so? Where are they now?”

“Outside, talking maybe.”

The conversation then died down, neither of them said anything as they locked in on each other’s eyes. Yellow wanted to ask something more, yet she couldn’t help but to be put in speechless state when those mysterious, dark shade of red orbs captured her own amber’s ones. She didn’t know why she herself stared at him unceasingly without realizing it. There was something different in that person, she could tell, and she also remembered Crystal had already told her about this. 

There still was loneliness hiding at the bottom of those irises, however, no more traces of madness or fury or depression. Strangely, seeing his current self just only made her feel worse. If he hadn’t changed for good, she could have easily present him her utmost hatred with an understandable reason; but no, Lance had changed. She should be relieved and happy for him, she knew that. Nevertheless, the person he turned into was somehow so lonely, so hopeless, so… fragile that she felt her heart clenching inside.

“What’s wrong with my face?” Lance’s question snapped Yellow out of her trail of thoughts. 

She jumped but quickly recovered as she shook her head lightly and averted her gaze. “Nothing…”

He frowned, though he decided not to press on the unnecessary matter. 

The door behind Lance slowly opened startled both of them, and they turned to look at two other persons stepped inside. Joyfulness instantly written on all over Crystal’s face at the moment she saw Yellow sitting safe and sound on the bed, and a hint of gladness could be seen in Silver’s expression.

“Feeling good?” Crystal asked in concern as she swiftly made her way near to Yellow. She gave her a hearty hug which caused the blonde to wince at the contact. The younger woman realized her mistake and immediately let her go. “Oh my, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t worry,” Yellow plastered a bright smile. “I’m totally fine.”

“Good to hear that,” Crystal grinned, showing her perfect-white teeth. “You should be careful next time, Yellow. Suddenly ran into the middle of a fight wasn’t a brilliant idea, you know.”

Yellow sheepishly laughed. “Yeah… My fault… Anyway, what was with the earthquake? I don’t really remember what has happened after I got hit and fainted out.”

“The Diggersby and Bunnelby were the cause. They were threatened by a couple of Serperior, which we have already dealt.” Silver explained shortly as he stood by Lance’s side, hands in pocket. “And I think you should thank Lance.”

“Huh?” Yellow tilted her head, confused by his words. “Why would I?”

“If it wasn’t for Lance, you would’ve been the one who took such powerful attack from that Serperior.” Silver said.

“He protected you,” Crystal agreed. “And he scooped you up and brought you here.”

“What?” Yellow dumbfounded as she recollected the recently faded memories in which she was being carried by someone. The first thing she could remember was a sensation of safety, and the next, was the comfortable warmth enveloped her whole body. Had Lance’s arms given her such feelings? Much similar to what Red’s embrace had brought about to her some times ago. She shook her head hard in order to shoo these thoughts away, this wasn’t the time for that.

“I’ve told you, haven’t I? That Lance is no more the bad guy you used to face with.” Crystal looked at her in the eyes. Being a warm-hearted person she was, Crystal truly wanted Yellow to believe in Lance and give him another chance.

“It’s nothing, Crystal.” Lance raised his voice, interrupted the Dex Holders. “I did blow her into a tree, so what I’ve done is just equated it out.”

“Lance…”

“I’ll leave now. Take care of that idiotic friend of yours.” Lance said as he walked towards the door and swung it open.

Yellow frowned at him, but instead of getting angry, she said in such a grateful tone. “Thank you.”

Lance paused midway for a second, and even though he didn’t show her his face, she swore she could see him smiling. After that, he left, leaving the three friends together in a somewhat awkward silence lasted for the next three minutes. 

Crystal watched him left, then looked at Yellow with a pleased smile shone brightly on her face. Silver rested his head on his hand, also smiled a bit as he understood too well the situation and how his solitary, past-haunted master might feel. As for Yellow, she kept her gaze fix on the white blanket she had been holding onto since the beginning, mind wandered.  
\-------------------------------------

Life was unpredictable.

For some god knew what reasons, Lance and Yellow ended up hiking together into the dense forest at the foot of Mt.Motar in order to complete the task which the blonde had been given by Professor Oak. She had been wondering why this could happen, why Lance, out of all people, agreed to help her, and why her friends could just leave her like that with her long time no see enemy. No possible answer came to her mind anyway, so eventually, she gave up and accepted the reality.

In fact, even with Lance’s existence there, Yellow always had a thought that she was alone with her yellow rodent always at her heels. He rarely talked, and most of the time he would keep a good distance behind her without making any slightest sound that could be heard. If it wasn’t for her Pokemon at her belt, and the occasional squeak from the female Pikachu clinging on her shoulder, she could have been killed by the deadly silence of this place.

 _Is he a ghost or something?_ Yellow thought to herself as she spared a glance over her shoulder at him. _A creepy ghost indeed._

The blonde adolescent then decided to ignore him and focus on her objective when coming here. She produced her very own Pokedex from the small brown bag strapped around her waist, then started to scan the surrounding with it. She would pause occasionally to observe the Pokemon’s natural habitats, do the measurement, collect samples, note down any necessary information with a pen and a pocketed notebook, and of course, add all the new discovery into the Pokedex in order to supplement the existed data before handing it back to Professor Oak for upgrading. A lot of work needed to be done, so it required not just one or two day to finish.

It was getting dark, and under such thick canopy, the night seemed to set in somewhat sooner. Dimness quickly enveloped everything in her sight, which prevented her from proceeding any further. So she did the reasonable things: stop and make a camp-fire and fill up her now empty stomach. However, as clumsy as she always was, the process of igniting the flame with wet wood on the damp forest floor wasn’t easy for her, especially when she had no Fire-type Pokemon.

Even with her Pikachu nudging her in attempt to comfort the petite woman, Yellow almost burst into tears after all the futile efforts when she suddenly remembered Lance was there. She twirled around, peering into the intense shadow in front of her to look for a man hiding himself behind it. He was so good at erasing his presence.

“Lance? Are you there?” Yellow called, seeing nothing but the night. “I need your help…”

“What do you need?” A voice spoke up out of nowhere, and a second later, Lance appeared right behind her making she jumped so high because of fright.

“W…Well I… I can’t make the fire…” She replied, trying to keep her racing heart calm down. 

The petite woman barely saw his expression with the dim veil concealing his face. But she could guess how annoyed he felt by the sigh he let out and some unclear mumble.  
When the fire was finally lit up, she sat by it, munching on a snack bar while watching the flame dancing with amusement. Lance was once again letting himself submerge into the darkness where the fire light couldn’t reach, despite the embarrassedly curt invitation to share the dinner by the warm camp-fire from Yellow. She sighed, not understand why he kept avoiding her all day long and even now when he was the one who had said yes to Crystal’s request. 

True to be told, she was actually freaked herself out at the announcement that Lance would accompany her with this research since Crystal had to deal with another urgent problem at Professor Elm’s laboratory. And Silver, well, he just had his own plan. She still hadn’t completely trusted The Dragon Master, and to think a man whom she knew too little about would watch her back was somehow unsecured. Anyway, now, she had changed her mind.

 _He isn’t bad after all, why do I have to be afraid of him?_ She thought simple-mindedly.

The blonde curled herself up for warmth as the temperature gradually dropped down, recalling the past events. She blushed at the thought of being carried in someone-not-Red’s arms and the easiness she felt at that moment. Next, the image of the lonely crimson irises flooded her mind, and the isolated figure among the living beings was so sorrowful in some ways came to her. Was that how Lance had been living for the past few years? Or he had been like that since the beginning? What had pushed him down the entire darkness of abyss at first? What had spurred him into the idea of wiping out all the existed human? So many questions had been stirring her mind, yet none of them got an adequately satisfying answer. And the urge to learn more about that certain mysterious man just kept growing up.

The yellow rodent stared at its owner in pure curiousity. Realizing this, Yellow turned at her Pokemon and smile gently while patted the Pikachu.

“Don’t worry, Chuchu. Just thinking ‘bout trivia.”

Before rolling out her sleeping bag on the forest floor, Yellow didn’t forget to leave some dried food on the ground and told Lance to take it whenever he wanted. No reply, and that was exactly what she had expected. So she decided to just release all of her Pokemon for them to find their late meal and watch over her during the next hours, and then turned in for the night.  
\-----------------------------------------

Lance briefly slept that night, and the following nights as well. He reasoned with no one in particular that he was just fulfilling his promise of keeping Yellow safe with Crystal. He also made a mental note about how annoyed that blonde woman would feel if he stayed close to her, so the proper distance was the best and the least appearance would do well.  
Four days had passed since the trek started. And Lance had done nothing but silently following a woman, watching her doing her work, having meals, feeding her Pokemon, going to sleep when the night came, acting as her invisible guard. He sometimes wondered why he had agreed doing this time-consuming and meaningless “job” while he had tons of things back at Blackthorn needed to be complete, and actually occasionally had the intention of going back. However, he didn’t do that.

To be honest, he did find his new role quite amusing. Not for the wasting time part, but for the watching part, which was more like stalking. Yellow was, well, even more hopeless than he had imagined. Naïve, innocent, clumsy, easy forgetting and childish in some way despite her eighteen. But that was the reason why he felt comfortable and a bit lightened when being around her.

Whenever she got into any kind of trouble and her Pokemon couldn’t help much, he would silently send out one of his Dragons to save her. She didn’t say anything after that, not even tried thanking him. That was good though. He could not accept her thanks if she told him, if that could happen.

Yellow always remember to leave food for Lance to take, knowing he only appeared when she was far enough or already gone to sleep. And he found her action somehow hard to understand. There could not be denied that the young woman was a nice, gentle, warm-hearted person, but it still did nothing to the fact that he was a villain to her, a bad bad guy who planned out evil scheme. Did she have to treat him that generous? 

Besides, Yellow supposed to have forgotten his existence due to his hiding skill and her not-so-good memory, however she did not. Never once there had been no food for him. 

“You don’t need to leave snacks or things for me. I already bring some.” Lance told out loud from the position not to far behind Yellow, making sure she could hear. An energy bar lay in his hand and he held it uncomfortably.

She raised her head from the snack she was having and looked at his way with those round pretty amber orbs. Taking a few second to comprehend what he had said, she then tilted her head a bit and nodded slightly. No reply was spoken, but judging from her action he had thought she would save the rations for herself. To his surprise, one more time, she didn’t do so but kept giving him her food. 

What an incomprehensible person you are, he frowned at the sleeping figure sitting on a dry area of ground, leaning against a tree. Why do you keep bothering me like this?  
It was early in the afternoon at the moment, but she had been using her gifted power too much today for a wounded wild Pokemon and for some other idotic reasons, so she was fatigued, and soon fell sound asleep while having a break. Her Pikachu followed its owner example, it curled up at her side, eyes closed. They both looked so peaceful, breathed in and out softly with small smiles drawn on their faces. 

Lance, after making sure the annoyed woman had actually sleep, came close to her as quietly as possible. He always did the same thing when she slept in order to have a better view at her. His mind had disapproved the action at first, yet his body moved on itself, so he let it be with an excuse.

_Doesn’t hurt, right? Just… for her safety. Can’t watch her back from afar in the dark…_

Nearly five days now, and her calm, pretty sleeping face had never been a boring scene to observe. He couldn’t stop himself from thinking so, simply couldn’t deny the fact that he was mesmerized by the smooth, almost flawless features of hers and the aura she was giving. Being near her, he felt tranquil, relaxing and comfortable as if every stressful, tiring thing occupying his entire body had vanished somehow, replaced by a soothing sensation. Maybe, her power not only affected on Pokemon, but also on human as well.

He used to hate her guts, he knew.

He also knew the hatred he had, had long been contorted.

Empty mind. Stirring heart. Captivated. The proper distance he had been trying to kept shortened. And he unconsciously laid his lips on her cheek in a gentle way. 

Briefly a second later, he snapped out of the mindless state and realized what he was doing. Immediately pulling away, Lance took a few steps back, sighing in relief when she didn’t wake up from her dream. However, the Pikachu had jostled awake and was staring at him warily, its fur stood up on ends as electricity ran along its small body.

 _Damn it… What the heck did I do?_ He silently cursed, then retreated into the dense lines of trees, not daring to stand too close to her any longer.  
\-----------------------------------------

The day after that, everything went smoothly and Yellow had completely finished her work in this forest by the evening, so she decided to stay the night and leave for tomorrow morning. Her small rodent Pokemon had been alert all the time, clearly aware of his tiny action yesterday, to which she seemed to wonder about. Lance saw the blonde using her power to read the Pikachu’s mind many times that day, trying to figure out why it acted so strangely, but to no avail it seemed. He knew her power was weak at seeing through memories of a certain Pokemon.

She now had managed to lit up campfire herself after four days self-practiced and countless futile efforts, and now preparing dinner near the cozy fire light. She skewed some dry food that could be grilled with edible mushrooms which she had collected during the day on two long wooden sticks, then held it over the dancing flame. She hadn’t let her other Pokemons out of their balls yet, and that was unusual. 

Lance sat on a high branch in the darkness, keeping an eye on every of her movements exactly like a pervert stalker – a terrible fact to think of. There were tons of things on his mind at the moment, and thanks to the sleepless nights before, a headache was threatening to overwhelm him. He closed his eyes for a few minutes, rubbing his temples. One more night, then he could return to his normal life.

“Lance.” Suddenly, a voice called up to him, making him crack open his eyes to find the source. 

The petite woman stood backing the campfire, looking into shadow between thick trees, obviously to find him. She had two food skewers in one hand, the other was nervously tucking a strand of blonde hair behind the ear. She called again. “Lance?”

“Anything?” He replied coldly, be careful not to show any sign of tiredness or anything else.

“What’re you doing up there?” Yellow followed his vocal sound and found him eventually.

“None of your business.”

An annoying expression flashed across her face, but a genuine smile quickly erased it all. “Fine then. Can you come down here?”

“Why?”

“…I need your help.”

She knew how to get him. He would always agree to help her whenever she was in trouble, maybe out of redemption, maybe he was actually a gentleman now. And she noticed that through days spent with him hiding afar. 

The man breathed deeply at her words, and couldn’t keep the smirk drawing on his lips. He saw through her trick, but still pretended to be hooked in the end. If she said she need his help, then he would offer one. So he jumped and landed easily on the ground below, not far away from her current position. The moment she attempted to step closer to him, he instinctively warned her to keep the distance.

“Huh? Okay… But, can I ask why?”

“No.” Because I can harm you in a way that even me can’t know. “What do you want me to do?”

“…Um, help me eat this, can you?” She said, holding out a skewer.

He looked at her for seconds, then looked down at the food in her hand, and looked up at her. Disbelief – surprise – in the bloody red orbs. Can’t she think of any better reason? “Seriously?”

She nodded and smile sheepishly.

After a long time pondering should he accept her food or not, Lance shrugged and approached her just to receive the skewer from her hand, then turned away to his old familiar place. But there was a hand stop him in his track. Small, gentle hand gripping his wrist. His eyes widened as he glanced over his shoulder at Yellow, somehow didn’t have the courage to pull away from such a loose grip. “What now?”

“One more thing. Have dinner with me, okay? Just this time.” She searched an answer in his unreadable eyes. “Please?”

He felt powerless to her beg. He couldn’t understand this woman, what she was trying to do was unpredictable. What she wanted him to do was simple, yet definitely had some meaning in it. He wanted to ask, however his throat went dry and he couldn’t speak up properly. 

She released him as he sighed and nodded, then led him towards the warm fire was flickering at the center of the clearing. She sat down by her Pikachu, who was staring at him, and he took the opposite side. They ate their food in complete silence.

The clearing was an open space. A part of darkened sky dotted with thousands of glittering tiny stars and a lazy moon hung high above came into view perfectly beautiful. A pleasant scenery in the middle of wildness, and what could be more enjoyable than munching on their skewers under the vast starry sky. Wind passed by, playing with the flame, making it wavering as some flickers drew out and popped slightly. The wind also brushed by Yellow’s long golden ponytail a while before dissolving into thin cold air. She pouted at her now messy hair and tried to smooth it out by one hand, as she finished the last bite of her dinner. Lance unconsciously smile at that sight.

She threw the wooden skewer into the fire, then busied with making her hair. He did the same thing with the wooden stick in his hand, and stood up, thinking this was a good time to leave. 

“I’m sorry.” 

Lance heard her mumbled, of course automatically decided it was his imagination and kept heading back to the shadow. He had his hand in pockets, eyes gazed up at the firmament above. He thought about nights ago, every lonely night he had had then and now, with or without people around him. For that, he might will never change.

“Hey, wait…” Yellow called after him. Being snapped out of the train of unwelcoming feelings, he grunted in annoyance, but still paused and waited.

“ I still have something to ask…” She hesitantly said.

“…You’ve been quiet the whole time.” 

“Yes, I know. But that because you didn’t seem to be in mood of talking…”

“That’s a fact. Anyway, I want to sleep now.” He pushed his feet carrying him forward, acting as if losing patient.

“Hey!” She said, watching his back slowly swallowed by the dark. And after a few moments, she shouted to the old trees. “I want to be friend with you!”

Lance stopped walking at the moment her last word came out and raise his eyebrows in disbelief. Never before, he took so long to absorb someone’s idea carried in each word. He didn’t sure if he had misheard or misunderstood the actual idea of hers, so he had to consider carefully. However, how hard he tried to get the meaning in different ways, it didn’t work well and always turned back to the most obvious mean which was clearly delivered through her statement. 

“What?” He didn’t move an inch in the thick veil of darkness filled with vines and leaves and branches while asking out loud, wanting to be certain.

“I’m asking you, can we become friends?”

-END-


End file.
